By: Emilie St. John
The Inglewood city council unanimously approved contract extensions for unions representing rank and file and management personnel within the police department during the regular city council meeting held Aug. 16.
Members of both the Inglewood Police Officers Association (IPOA) and Inglewood Police Management Association (IPMA) overwhelmingly voted in favor of the terms negotiated on their behalf.
The new contracts are for three years and run from July 1, 2022 – June 30, 2025.
The new agreements include a 15% raise upon the effective date of a new salary ordinance which was also approved during the same council meeting.
They will also receive a 5% salary increase July 1, 2024 and 2% increase March 1, 2025.
The agreement also calls for a one-time $10,000 non-PERSABLE bonus July 1, 2023.
The new salary ordinance indicates POST incentive pay will become a flat rate, uniform allowance will increase to $2,000 per fiscal year and a referral program will be implemented for current IPOA members that recommend new hires for employment with the department.
The department will also add assignments to the Gang Intelligence, Narcotics and Vice to list of investigator assignments on a rotating basis. Assignment pay will be an additional 8% per pay period with assignments being five years. There is an option to extend at the discretion of the police chief.
Changes were also made to medical stipends with employees with 25years or more of law enforcement service receiving $1,500 per month, and $1,000 for those with 24.9 which is paid until they reach Medicare age.
The total increase in costs of salary and benefits for the first year of the MOU is $6.6 million which will be covered by the general fund and overall cost for the three-year labor agreement for both IPOA and IPMA is approximately $16.9 million.
The agreement comes after the department lost close to two dozen officers due to retirement and transferring to outside agencies over the last two years.
The City addressed retention by making changes to the longevity pay plan which was 15%, over 25 years, paid out in five-year increments. The change will grant employees a higher percentage at their first five-year anniversary in order to maintain staffing levels.
The department will also provide incentives for education reimbursements. Members of IPOA will be grandfathered in for those seeking a Bachelor’s degree, and members of IPMA will receive incentives for obtaining their Masters.
